All articles by Railway Gazette International – Page 1316
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News
Czech corridor energised
ELECTRIC services began running between Ceske Budejovice and the Austrian border at Horni Dvoriste in southern Bohemia on June 10, following the inauguration of the 25 kV 50Hz wiring three days earlier (below). Part of Czech Railways’ north-south Corridor 4 linking the German and Austrian borders (RG 6.95 p377), the ...
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NewsTilt technology still evolving as the cost falls
With trains operational in more than a dozen countries and two more fleets about to enter service in Britain, the commercial case for tilt is firmly established. While there is still diversity of actuation techniques, the cost is falling and side effects such as nausea are being overcome
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Restructuring cuts FS costs
THE RESTRUCTURING of Italian State Railways took a further step on July 1, with the legal formation of infrastructure company Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. Part of the process to meet European directives on the separation of infrastructure and operations, the move also paves the way for wider implementation of open access ...
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Delhi on course
THE FIRST section of Delhi’s northwest line is to be ready by December 2003. Delhi Metro Rail Corp announced on July 8 that it was starting utilities diversion for the route, which will run entirely on viaduct 12m above ground. The 8·5 km first section links the junction at Tri ...
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C-Train growing
THREE of 32 new Siemens SD160 LRVs entered service in Calgary on July 4. Equipped with IGBT controls and AC drives, they are to be delivered in two batches, 15 this year and 17 in 2003, at a cost of C$112m. The bodyshells are being built in Siemens’ Carson plant ...
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Swedish cut-off
AUGUST 20 will see the completion of a new double-track cut-off to boost capacity and shorten journey times on the Stockholm - Västerås line. Banverket inaugurated the SKr1·6bn route on June 5, although with only one track at first. Replacing a tortuous single track along the shores of Lake Malaren ...
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News
Dieter
Over 500 passengers were left wandering on the concourse at Marseille when staff forgot to put a TGV service to Paris on the departure board. The empty train was stopped at Aix-en-Provence TGV, and the passengers taken there by coach, finally arriving over three hours late. A run of bad ...
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Dutch Sprinter refurbishment
NETHERLANDS Railways awarded a 200m guilders contract to Bombardier on July 3 for the mid-life modernisation of 60 three-car Class SGM III Sprinter EMUs.The interiors of the Randstad commuter trains will be completely renovated, with new ceilings, floors, glass partitions and seating. An extra vestibule will be fitted to the ...
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News
Refurbished stock heads east
ITALIAN RAILWAYS’ rolling stock maintenance arm UTMR - now a Trenitalia subsidiary - is offering a range of refurbished coaches to railways in eastern Europe. The basis for the conversions are UIC-standard Type X vehicles dating from the early 1970s which have been replaced on Italian domestic inter-city services by ...
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In seat entertainment
AEROVISION Avionics is supplying in-seat entertainment equipment for Queensland Rail’s Cairns Tilt Train (p523). Originally developed for airline use, it offers six video and six audio channels, with sound delivered through headphones.When not in use, the TFT screens are stored in the seat armrests. The system is controlled via a ...
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News
Mail & Express
Sir - I was interested to read the letter from Christophe Boisseau about mixed passenger and freight traffic (RG 6.01 p382). However, I expected a more detailed exposition of Amtrak’s experience with non-passenger operations. Amtrak has been handling small, time-sensitive freight on much of its passenger network for several years, ...
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News
Ghan extension
WITH construction of the Alice Springs - Darwin line scheduled to start in July, Great Southern Railway has formulated plans to extend The Ghan cruise train beyond Alice Springs. GSR Chief Executive Officer Stephen Bradford said that The Ghan would run weekly to Darwin between December and February and twice ...
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News
Kiley sacked in PPP fiasco
ON JULY 17 Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers dismissed Bob Kiley as Chairman of London Regional Transport, parent company of London Underground. In his place Byers reappointed Sir Malcolm Bates, who had held the post until Kiley was named as his successor on May 10 by Deputy ...
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Finance
Estonia: In June parliament voted to increase passenger operator Edelaraudtee’s funding to 148m kroons this year, 159m kroons in 2002 and 140m in 2003. State subsidies will cease in 2004.Great Britain: Porterbrook Leasing is to finance 845 coal hopper wagons for EWS. They will be built at York by Thrall ...
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News
Low-floor fleet
ON JUNE 27 Istanbul Ulasim AS awarded a €86m contract to Bombardier Transportation for supply of 55 low-floor cars, to be delivered from September 2002. Derived from the K
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News
Learning to live in a free market
INTRO: In the 10 years after Romania’s December 1989 revolution, the volume of rail traffic slumped to just 35% of its former level. Following the restructuring of SNCFR into five independent companies in October 1998, the slide has been halted, and international loans are funding much-needed modernisation. Chris Jackson asked ...
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More productivity gains in prospect
SINGLE COMMODITY railways have several advantages over mixed traffic railways when it comes to productivity comparisons. All trains, for example, may be of the same formation and same weight, allowing the best use of line capacity. Nonetheless, it is instructive to see just what is being achieved by the iron ...
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No let-up in German spending plans
ONE OF German Railway’s ICE fleet reached a speed of 393 km/h during trials of a Japanese-designed bogie on the Hannover - Berlin high speed line on July 13. The test was part of DB’s programme to develop trains fit for commercial service at 350 km/h - for the moment ...
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Wires go west
FRENCH infrastructure authority RFF is to electrify the 114 km from Nantes to La-Roche-sur-Yon and the resort of Les-Sables-d’Olonne by 2007. An agreement for the Fr537m project was signed with the government, the region of Pays de la Loire and the departments of Vendée and Loire-Atlantique on July 10.At present ...
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Sirio goes north
GÖTEBORG Transport has ordered a fleet of 40 Sirio low-floor light rail cars from AnsaldoBreda for SKr600m, plus an option for a further 80 vehicles. The 29m long unidirectional cars are 2650mm wide and will have seats for 83 passengers and room for 96 standees. Two prototypes are due for ...